Context, the last day

Today was probably the most crowded day at the Context Art Miami fair in Wynwood, and from the reports that I got throughout the day, it was also packed at Aqua and at Scope.

Over at Scope I worked a morning telephonic sale for Tim Tate for a major piece heading to a well-known collector in Naples, Florida.

In spite of the large crowds, and the hundreds and hundreds, and hundreds of photographs that people always take (of the art) at the art fairs, it was somewhat slower, as far as sales go, although Jodi Walsh did manage to place a large clay installation with a local collector in Miami.

Wall Installation by Jodi Walsh

As we were closing at 6PM, I did manage to sell a large drawing, which happens to be my latest piece; it's always great to close the fair with a last minute fair.

As we always do, we had strategically parked the van by the loading gate - this means getting to Wynwood at 7AM to find a parking spot, and then hanging around for 4 hours until the fair opens. But the huge payoff is that then we were out of there by 7:30PM!

From there we headed to Miami Beach to load Tim Tate's work that was featured at the Scope Art Fair.

That load out was another story - the way Scope is located right on the beach necessitates a complex chess games of vans and trucks, etc., all apparently requiring police escort into the sand. It also means that no one really gets to park close to the tent, which means that the artwork has to be schlepped one piece at the time on the sand, as no wheeled vehicle to carry multiple pieces can be used (because of the sand). Also, for some inexplicable reason, the Scope management doesn't allow hand-carrying of work via the tent's loading dock. This requires even longer treks in the sand, all resulting in a brutal load in/out procedure for those who hand-carry/drive their own art.

Lesson learned? If you do Scope, then it is imperative to use an art delivery service and pay them to deal with this nightmare.

In spite of all of this, and via the use of a couple of hired hands, there were four of us loading, and it took about two and a half hours... by 10:30PM we were heading to Little Havana, hoping to hit the sack for an early morning wake-up, as Audrey hits the road for the drive back to the DMV around 4:30AM and my flight departs around 6AM.

Another year, another big dance done!

Context Saturday: Best day so far

We departed our beach hotel in Hollywood and will spend the next two nights in my cousin's fortress in Little Havana, as we have done for the last few years.

Different scent in the crowds at the Context Art Miami fair today; there are still loads of women as slim as rifles, and men in impossibly tight pants, but there are also a lot more folks at Context not to be seen, but to see the artwork.

Tim Vermeulen,me, Jodi Walsh and Georgia Nassikas

Saturday saw the sale of another Tim Vermeulen painting, two of my drawings, a major hook-up between Jodi Walsh and a NYC design firm, and Audrey Wilson got invited to participate in a curated show at Union College in upstate New York.

Context Friday: The collectors arrive

Large crowds at Context today and a different sense in the air... more purpose to the buyers.

We had multiple sales today at the Context Art Fair... both my large mixed media videos found homes, as well as several drawings, plus three oil paintings by Tim Vermeulen and a wall sculpture by Elissa Farrow Savos.

Also some visits by DMV artists doing some of the other fairs.

The curious case of Fidel Castro and La Quinceañera

Yesterday at the Context Art Miami fair, one of the cleaning ladies was nearby our booth and speaking on her cell phone using the machine gun steccato of Cuban Spanish that drives other Spanish speakers crazy.

"Cubans," once wrote the Argentinian writer Jacobo Timerman, "use Spanish as a weapon."

I could tell that she was trying to calm someone down on the other side of the conversation. When she hung up, she burst into tears.

Alarmed, I walked up to her and asked what was wrong. Prior to this event, we had exchanged pleasantries and she had told me that her family was from Matanzas. With tears on her face, she related that she had been speaking with her niece in Cuba.

It seems that her niece was in the middle of her Quinceañera party when the Cuban police showed up.

A Quinceañera party is the coming of age party that Cuban girls, and girls throughout Latin America celebrate on their 15th birthday. It remains one of the most important and strongest traditions of the Spanish-speaking world.

In Cuba, because of the extreme necessities of the Cuban people, setting up a Quinceañera party often takes years of preparation, usually in close coordination with relatives in other countries who can hand-carry and bring the required items needed to stage the most important social event in a young girl's life.

In this case, the teary cleaning lady told me that she had made half a dozen trips in the last two years binging party items, shoes, dress, candy, stockings; the list went on and on as she sobbed.

The local police showed up to the party, and informed the family that they were in violation of the official nine days of luto (mourning) for the death of Fidel Castro Ruz; parties and music-playing was strictly forbidden.

All guests' names were taken down and all were ordered to leave. When La Quinceañera's mother began to cry and complain to the police, she was pushed to the ground and punched in the mouth. When La Quinceañera's father tried to help his wife, he was also beaten and then arrested.

That's why this nice cleaning lady was trying to calm her abused family members across the miles, and then broke down once she hung up.

"Even after that desgraciado is dead, he's still abusing us," she sobbed in Spanish. I hugged her, and we cried a little together.

That's Cuba after Fidel, week one.

Context Day Two

Brutal drive to Wynwood to get to the art fairs - that needs to be fixed... how? see this.

Bit of a slow day, as all dealers seem to be commenting about how the separation of Context Art Miami from its sister megafair Art Miami has/will affect Context.

Personally I think that Context has begun to outshine its elder sister - not just me, but loads of collectors have expressed similar views; only time will tell.

With Audrey at the wheel of the huge cargo van, we arrived just in time after spending nearly an hour to go the last 2-3 blocks in Wynwood. By eleven AM we were set.

I strolled a little and spent some time speaking to Ciara Gibbons from Gibbons & Nicholas, a wonderful Irish gallery with a powerfully curated booth dealing with socially inquisitive artwork that addresses the worldwide problem of mass migrations. It would be good to see that artwork and those Irish artists in a DMV museum... very appropriate to these interesting times.

In the late afternoon we finally broke the ice and sold one of my drawings to a nice French couple from Miami Beach; it was soon followed by a sale of one of the very talented Georgia Nassikas to a Miami couple.

Later on the day there was a sports celebrity sighting in the booth, as legendary golfer Phil Mickelson and his wife dropped by the booth, took notes and pictures and admired some work... more on that later.

As the fair closed at 8PM, as we were packing we spent 45 minutes with a last minute collector who ended up buying two of my drawings and commissioning three more.

Day two done.

Artomatic is coming back on 2017!

 

Building on a partnership that started in 2007, Artomatic will return to Crystal City

to host a signature event in the spring of 2017. They anticipate attracting a large and diverse crowd showcasing a variety of creative work, including visual art, music, film, live performance, fashion, and more.

 

Look for more information about the next Artomatic in January when they kick off the New Year with a spring event in Crystal City!

The curious case of the Miami Art fair week, Wynwood, and traffic

There is a certain connection that exists between the success and survival of big events, the hosting city, people, businesses and traffic.

Make it hard for people to get to a concert venue, and they won't go. Make it difficult for people to get to a sporting event, and they'll stay home and watch it on TV.

Make it impossible for people to drive to art fairs during ABMB and they will not go to the fairs.

The cities of Miami and Miami Beach have a cash cow going on with the explosion of the Art Basel week of art fairs. By my unofficial count, there are no less than 26 art fairs going on around the Greater Miami area, plus countless side art events, plus museum parties, etc. They generate a lot of business for the local area, a lot of tax revenue for the cities and a lot of good stuff for Miamians.

And all that is in extremis if the cities (and the fairs) do not do a better job of traffic management.

"All they need is some police presence guiding and directing traffic!" noted the exasperated Uber driver. "Just like they do for concerts or football games; you never see this kind of traffic nightmare in those cases... why?... because the friggin' cops are on the corners directing traffic!"

I suspect that in those cases, the events/venues have a contract with the local police force, so that they pay a fee to get the traffic coverage. For the last two nights in Wynwood, traffic has been a nightmare, often taking over an hour to move one traffic light. I hear that in Miami Beach it is even worse.

Unless resolved, this is going to kill the fairs in Miami and Miami Beach. We've already heard complaints over the last years - this year has been the worst. "You can't get an Uber or a Lyft," noted an exasperated collector via text last night. "They can't get in the area!"

This has to be fixed.

All the Wynwood art fairs, and all the Miami Beach art fairs needs to get together and arrange for police support during the art fairs - there hasn't been any for the first day or two...this is not just advice, but a must do unless they see the traffic jams kill attendance and thus infect the subsequent death of the fairs. You never want to hear: "I used to go to the fairs, but now it's impossible to even get in... so..."

Art fairs are run by business entities; not artists - if this issue is this clear to most attendees and most exhibitors (who also have to get to the fairs in and out), then they must also be clear to the most casual observer.

Miami/Miami Beach: Fix the traffic jams, or the fairs will die off. 

Update: On Wednesday and Thursday night cops magically appeared (at least in Wynwood) and traffic improved significantly - it's still packed, but at least moving a little!

Context Day One

Today was the VIP opening at Context Art Miami in Wynwood... we got there a little early, in order to get some time to walk the fair before the opening.

After parking I got me a cortadito on the walk from the parking lot to the fair. I am convinced that Cuban coffee is the real reason that crack never took hold in Miami. The cortadito was $1.87 in Wynwood... In most places in Hialeah you can get one for a quarter.

Booth 326 looked really good - there was Dulce Pinzon, Audrey Wilson, Jodi Walsh, Georgia Nassikas, Tim Vermeulen, Elissa Farrow-Savos and Alma Selimovic - and my art - rocking the booth!

Meanwhile, over in Miami Beach's SCOPE Art Fair, Tim Tate was manning our booth at that fair showcasing his new work... but more on that later.

Opening night was the usual stroll of impossibly slim women in impossibly high heels, and handsome young dudes in tight pants and sockless long shoes. There was also a lot of very good tasting food and plenty of Prosecco flowing.

My family started arriving in waves, and I spent much of the night speaking to them... collectors also came by, most notably Texas ubercollector Ardis Bartle.

Audrey Wilson, Ardis Bartle and Jodi Walsh

With most of my family members in one place together, I brought out a folder with around 100 lithographs and etchings that I had done 1977-1981 while a student at the University of Washington School of Art... I wanted to give them a choice of some of them as gifts.

Soon my familial peeps were spreading out the prints on the table and selecting them as a group. A few minutes later I noticed that several other people were also gathering around the table and selecting work. When I say "other people" I mean strangers.

Before my mind got this fact clear, I realized that people were helping themselves to the artwork - just anyone... not just my family.

By the time that I reached the folder, about 20 prints remained - I say maybe a third of those were in my family's new art collection; the rest now belong to perfect strangers who never bothered to ask a question, but just angled in, got some prints and left.

I guess that my artistic collectors' base just got expanded! cough... cough...

The big ABMB Week Art Dance starts tonight!

Alida Anderson Art Projects invites you to the

VIP Opening Receptions of

CONTEXT ART MIAMI

Tuesday, November 29th @ 5:30-10pm

Alida Anderson Art Projects is proud to participate for the fifth year in a row, in this year's CONTEXT ArtMiami fair, taking place November 29 - December 4 in the Wynwood Design District of Miami.

The gallery will feature work by Dulce Pinzón (Mexico), Jodi Walsh (Canada), Alma Selimovic (Bosnia), Elissa Farrow-Savos (US), Tim Vermeulen (US), Georgia Nassikas (US), Audrey Wilson (US) and F. Lennox Campello (US via Cuba).  We are located in booth 326, near the fair’s center collectors’ lounge.

Intemperance Detox Simulation... by Audrey Wilson - Context Booth 326 (Photo by @peted301)

The gallery is also proud to sponsor a gorgeous public art spaces installation by New York City artist Matthew Langley in space SP10. On display are 35 of his small artworks – the largest presentation ever!

Detail from Matthew Langley installation

We are also at the SCOPE ArtFair in Miami Beach, where we’re showcasing a solo booth by Washington, DC artist Tim Tate. His work is in booth D29 at SCOPE. Their VIP opening is also Tuesday, November 29 from 4-8PM.

Tim Tate at SCOPE Art Fair

The gallery has a few complimentary passes for the art fairs left, please contact us at info@alidaanderson.com for more information.

Let me count the ways...

How Do I Love Thee? (Sonnets to The Portuguese)
36x36 inches, circa 2016
Charcoal on Paper by F. Lennox Campello

How Do I Love Thee? (Sonnets to The Portuguese) - Detail
36x36 inches, circa 2016
Charcoal on Paper by F. Lennox Campello

Come see it at the CONTEXT ART MIAMI fair in Wynwood - booth 326!

Context Art Miami... booth 326

We are wild, beautiful things II by Elissa Farrow-Savos

Art Scam Alert!

Be aware of this SOB trying to steal artwork from artists!

From: John Marcus

Greetings
My name is John Marcus from NC. I actually observed my wife has been
viewing your website on my laptop and i guess she likes your piece of
work, I'm also impressed and amazed to have seen your various works
too, : ) You are doing a great job. I would like to receive further
information about your piece of work and what inspires you. I am very
much interested in the purchase of the piece (in subject field above)
to surprise my wife. Kindly confirm the availability for immediate
sales. Thanks and best regards, John Marcus

Greetings
My name is John Marcus from NC. I actually observed my wife has been
viewing your website on my laptop and i guess she likes your piece of
work, I'm also impressed and amazed to have seen your various works
too, : ) You are doing a great job. I would like to receive further
information about your piece of work and what inspires you. I am very
much interested in the purchase of the piece (in subject field above)
to surprise my wife. Kindly confirm the availability for immediate
sales. Thanks and best regards, John Marcus

Raul Castro is just as bad (if not worse)

The man being tied to a tree by Fidel Castro is a Cuban peasant from the Sierra Maestra. He refused to give his crops to the Cuban revolutionaries, and was "condemned" to execution for refusing. The man covering his eyes is Raul Castro.

Here he is being executed. The man firing the rifle is Raul Castro

The aftermath of the execution - all duly recorded by the camera. The man standing in the background by the collapsed victim is Fidel Castro. The man to the left of Raul Castro is Che Guevara.

And before anyone starts justifying or explaining - this execution (one of many) was well documented by the Castros in the official history of the Revolution - they didn't "back away" from the murder, but used it as an example to those unwilling to cooperate with the regime.

At Scope installating

It all starts today as Audrey Wilson begins installation of Tim Tate's pieces at the Scope Art Fair in Miami Beach!

Come see his new work in booth D29!

A Silence Opens 2016 by Tim Tate. 24 x 18 x 4, silver plates and colored frame, mirror, ceramic, LEDs